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Open comment to Internet Activists, Journalists and Academics: You're not going to get what you want by piggy-backing on Microsoft's proprietary platform. Speci

by avar 14y ago

Open comment to Internet Activists, Journalists and Academics: You're not going to get what you want by piggy-backing on Microsoft's proprietary platform. Specifically if you're an Internet Activists you shouldn't be relying on some company's proprietary tool for disguising your communications. There's plenty of open and secure VoIP clients which coupled with open encryption standards, VPN's etc. will suit your purposes. Use those things, not Skype.

magikarp 14y ago
If you're someone who reads Hacker News then sure, you already know better than to rely on a closed platform. But many in Syria don't.
polymatter 14y ago
I only know about Tor (https://www.torproject.org https://www.torproject.org) which could help. I hope someone else can recommend any others.
- StavrosK 14y ago
  https://silentcircle.com/ https://silentcircle.com/ aims to do just that, secure communications. Disclosure: I work there.
  - dmix 14y ago
    Phil Zimmermann founded this? Nice. Although I remember reading about the lack of open source and the odd terms of service wording. http://log.nadim.cc/?p=89 http://log.nadim.cc/?p=89 Is that still being addressed?
    - StavrosK 14y ago
      Okay, before I say anything, this isn't official in any way, as I only work on the web-facing side, so this is just my experience: I couldn't really respond about either, because I don't know, but I know that the Silent Text sources are on GitHub: https://github.com/SilentCircle/silent-text https://github.com/SilentCircle/silent-text The rest of the clients's code is probably being cleaned up, but I guess we're trying to build more functionality and are very busy with other stuff, and publishing the code has fallen behind a bit. That's just my guess, as, as I said, I don't work on that. From what I've seen in my time there, though, everyone is extremely capable (I have yet to see a single thing that wasn't done correctly) and very focused on security (again, I have yet to find fault with something, and I'm really paranoid). From what I've seen (and this probably comes off a bit too PR-y, but it's true), I have absolutely no problem trusting SC with my communications, everyone takes every precaution to safeguard users' data (even in the web part, we don't want to use third-party services, our analytics are hosted by us) to avoid compromising users' data. Anyway, I've raved too long about this. I'll just say I'm very happy to work there.
      - deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]
  - magikarp 14y ago
    As the person behind the Open Letter to Skype, I have also written copiously about how dangerous Silent Circle is to cryptography software development. Silent Circle has repeatedly told untruths in the media regarding the open source nature of their software. Their software remains largely closed and not open for public review (except for Silent Text, which has only released incomplete source code.) All the same, Silent Circle has been consciously targeting activists in life-or-death situations. They have repeatedly told activist and the media that their tools are open source and transparently and publicly reviewed. Silent Circle has been lying to those in life and death situations for four months. Their software, except for portions of Silent Text, is not publicly reviewed and closed source software. Furthermore, they claim to have servers based in Canada whereas most of their network is in the U.S., subject to U.S. surveillance laws. I have written about this here: http://log.nadim.cc/?p=89 http://log.nadim.cc/?p=89 http://log.nadim.cc/?p=102 http://log.nadim.cc/?p=102
    - StavrosK 14y ago
      I couldn't comment on that, as I hadn't heard about these concerns before. My personal opinion is the opposite from yours, I think you're reading too much of a bad intention into a startup having its hands full with development. I guess the issue will be put to rest when the code is released, so there's no point in arguing about it too much.
      - magikarp 14y ago
        I would appreciate it if Silent Circle did not repeatedly claim to the media that the code has already been openly released and reviewed when it hasn't been.
        StavrosK 14y ago
        I'm not aware of that. The Silent Text repo is here: https://github.com/SilentCircle/silent-text https://github.com/SilentCircle/silent-text Do you have any references of anyone saying the code of the other clients has been released? I'm curious.
mtgx 14y ago
For those specifically yes. If you're an activist or journalist talking to your sources, you shouldn't be using Skype, period. However, the letter also tries to make Skype a safer platform for everyone else. For example they are asking for a regular transparency report, the way Google has with Gmail and Google searches. Is that really too much to ask from Microsoft? And don't you think it would benefit a lot of those 600 million people if they found out just how much Skype is being monitored? While (most) people here can be sure Skype is unsafe, do you really get the same impression from "regular" people? Or are they completely unaware of it? I think transparency would help raise awareness about it.

by avar 14y ago

magikarp 14y ago

If you're someone who reads Hacker News then sure, you already know better than to rely on a closed platform. But many in Syria don't.

polymatter 14y ago

I only know about Tor (https://www.torproject.org https://www.torproject.org) which could help. I hope someone else can recommend any others.

StavrosK 14y ago
https://silentcircle.com/ https://silentcircle.com/ aims to do just that, secure communications. Disclosure: I work there.
- dmix 14y ago
  Phil Zimmermann founded this? Nice. Although I remember reading about the lack of open source and the odd terms of service wording. http://log.nadim.cc/?p=89 http://log.nadim.cc/?p=89 Is that still being addressed?
  - StavrosK 14y ago
    Okay, before I say anything, this isn't official in any way, as I only work on the web-facing side, so this is just my experience: I couldn't really respond about either, because I don't know, but I know that the Silent Text sources are on GitHub: https://github.com/SilentCircle/silent-text https://github.com/SilentCircle/silent-text The rest of the clients's code is probably being cleaned up, but I guess we're trying to build more functionality and are very busy with other stuff, and publishing the code has fallen behind a bit. That's just my guess, as, as I said, I don't work on that. From what I've seen in my time there, though, everyone is extremely capable (I have yet to see a single thing that wasn't done correctly) and very focused on security (again, I have yet to find fault with something, and I'm really paranoid). From what I've seen (and this probably comes off a bit too PR-y, but it's true), I have absolutely no problem trusting SC with my communications, everyone takes every precaution to safeguard users' data (even in the web part, we don't want to use third-party services, our analytics are hosted by us) to avoid compromising users' data. Anyway, I've raved too long about this. I'll just say I'm very happy to work there.
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
- magikarp 14y ago
  As the person behind the Open Letter to Skype, I have also written copiously about how dangerous Silent Circle is to cryptography software development. Silent Circle has repeatedly told untruths in the media regarding the open source nature of their software. Their software remains largely closed and not open for public review (except for Silent Text, which has only released incomplete source code.) All the same, Silent Circle has been consciously targeting activists in life-or-death situations. They have repeatedly told activist and the media that their tools are open source and transparently and publicly reviewed. Silent Circle has been lying to those in life and death situations for four months. Their software, except for portions of Silent Text, is not publicly reviewed and closed source software. Furthermore, they claim to have servers based in Canada whereas most of their network is in the U.S., subject to U.S. surveillance laws. I have written about this here: http://log.nadim.cc/?p=89 http://log.nadim.cc/?p=89 http://log.nadim.cc/?p=102 http://log.nadim.cc/?p=102
  - StavrosK 14y ago
    I couldn't comment on that, as I hadn't heard about these concerns before. My personal opinion is the opposite from yours, I think you're reading too much of a bad intention into a startup having its hands full with development. I guess the issue will be put to rest when the code is released, so there's no point in arguing about it too much.
    - magikarp 14y ago
      I would appreciate it if Silent Circle did not repeatedly claim to the media that the code has already been openly released and reviewed when it hasn't been.
      - StavrosK 14y ago
        I'm not aware of that. The Silent Text repo is here: https://github.com/SilentCircle/silent-text https://github.com/SilentCircle/silent-text Do you have any references of anyone saying the code of the other clients has been released? I'm curious.

mtgx 14y ago

For those specifically yes. If you're an activist or journalist talking to your sources, you shouldn't be using Skype, period. However, the letter also tries to make Skype a safer platform for everyone else. For example they are asking for a regular transparency report, the way Google has with Gmail and Google searches. Is that really too much to ask from Microsoft? And don't you think it would benefit a lot of those 600 million people if they found out just how much Skype is being monitored? While (most) people here can be sure Skype is unsafe, do you really get the same impression from "regular" people? Or are they completely unaware of it? I think transparency would help raise awareness about it.